Sanguine
by LothCat
Summary: Stealth missions aren't really Ezra's specialty, and what should be a quick supply pickup turns complicated. Gen, no pairing. Warning for descriptions of blood.


"I really miss the bikes." Ezra sighed to no one in particular, watching the path in front of him lit by the dim glowrod.

"Yeah, you and everyone else, kid." Zeb growled out from behind him.

"Wouldn't do much good. Too noisy and would attract too much attention, and speaking of noisy…" Kanan kept his voice low as he led the way.

"Yeah yeah, we hear you." Zeb spoke a little more softly that time.

Ezra smiled, going back to paying attention to the path in front of him. As much as he would have liked to zip in and out at least it wasn't too bad. They were picking up medical supplies for the rebellion. Hera had a contact on the inside who would put the crates outside by the dumpsters near dawn. The supplies were already written off as defective, Hera had explained. There was always a percentage of failed product in any manufacturing situation, the contact just skimmed enough to be well within the accepted amount of waste.

It meant stealth, not open theft, which meant landing the Phantom a fair distance away and walking along the forest cartpath. From the look of the ruts it saw a fair amount of wheeled vehicle and foot traffic.

Ezra hit one of the ruts badly, stumbling and slipping off the side of the path with a curse, ending up knee deep in thorn bushes.

"Need a hand?" Zeb chuckled quietly, reaching down to grab Ezra by the back of the vest and haul him back onto the path.

Ezra bit back a yelp at the sudden grab, sharp prickly vegetation grabbing at his pants legs and only letting go reluctantly as he was lifted up and out of them.

"Everything alright back there?" Kanan had stopped to watch them both.

"Fine, just tripped." Ezra shook himself off and held the light to examine and make sure his pants hadn't ripped at the rough treatment. It looked like they hadn't, the cloth still intact.

"Then let's keep moving." Kanan started off again and Ezra hurried to keep up.

* * *

Ezra tried to swallow, his mouth dry as he reached up to rub his forehead. They hadn't been walking that long, he shouldn't be as tired as he was. At least the back of the medical center finally came into view with the crates where they were supposed to be, and he was grateful for the chance to stop and catch his breath.

Kanan tugged the lids off, checking inside to look over the contents before sealing them up.

"Everything's here, grab them and lets go." Kanan kept his voice down, linking the crates up in sets of two for easy maneuvering and activating the hoverpads on the bottom of each one.

Ezra took a deep breath and tried to shake off the strange feeling. The sooner they got back to the Phantom the sooner he could sit down and rest. He took his crates, starting to push them back along the way they came. It seemed longer this time, harder to see the rough road with the crates to push. The only plus was that he could lean on them some, and while he tripped over the rough road more than once he managed to stay on the path.

With the Phantom in sight he paused, running his fingers through his hair and trying to catch his breath. He was fairly certain the night had been warmer when they first started and the trudging should have been enough to keep him warm, but he felt cold. He blamed the mud and wet that had soaked his pants legs up to the knee. He swallowed hard and leaned a little more on the crates as he kept walking, stumbling again as the world tilted alarmingly. He was confused, the ground shouldn't be tilting, he wasn't in space. Then he was just concerned with staying upright when his legs wanted to give out from under him.

"Almost there." Zeb reached out to give Ezra a friendly pat on the back, firmly enough to make the kid stagger even on a good day. He frowned when Ezra just gripped the crate harder, slumping further. "Ezra?"  
"M'fine, just… just a sec." Ezra closed his eyed in hopes the spinning would stop.

"Kanan, get over here." Zeb kept his voice low, but there was an urgency to the tone that had Kanan dropping his crates and turning back without hesitation.

"What's going on?" Kanan hurried to where Zeb was coaxing Ezra to let go of the crate, holding him upright. "Ezra?"

Ezra opened his eyes, trying to focus on him and not really managing it.

"What happened?" Kanan patted Ezra's cheek as his eyes started to close again.

"He just started falling over." Zeb sounded just as confused as Kanan.

"Give him here. I'll get him to the Phantom, you get the crates. I can't see anything out here." Kanan took Ezra, hoisting him up and holding him close, trying to think of anything that could cause this reaction. Ezra didn't feel feverish, if anything his skin felt cool to the touch.

It didn't take Kanan long to carry Ezra to the Phantom, laying him down on the floor near the cockpit in the brighter lights. "Come on, any help you can give me here." He patted Ezra's cheek again, making his padawan open his eyes enough to squint up at the lights.

"Felt weird, then dizzy" Ezra slurred. "Wanna sleep."

"Don't sleep, stay with me." Kanan pressed fingertips to take his pulse, which was far too weak and fluttery for his comfort. He started checking over him for anything out of place, a strange bug bite, a dart, something that would explain his padawan's collapse. He almost missed it in the mud, but there was a smear of red on Ezra's boot. He shifted down to touch it, then tugged at his pants leg, trying to find where the blood was coming from. His skin was a mess of red under the cloth, more blood than water soaking it. There were several long red scratches on his skin sluggishly oozing, but nothing that looked like it could result in the volume of blood he was finding.

Kanan heard Zeb's sharp intake of breath without looking up.

"Where's that coming from? Looks like the kid's half bled out." Zeb sounded shaken, and Kanan wished he had an answer.

"It stops higher up on his leg, I can't see anything… wait." Kanan stared down at the scratches. "If he got these when he fell, that was hours ago. They barely broke the skin, they should have stopped bleeding by now."

"He did fall into some bushes." Zeb leaned in as another bead of blood slowly welled up and started sliding down the side of Ezra's leg. "Could have gotten scratched up then."

Kanan frowned at the drop. "If he's been bleeding this whole time, could explain him passing out. We need to get the bleeding stopped."

"M'not passed out, I can help." Ezra grumbled out, starting to try and sit up and see what was going on. He didn't make it very far, even before Kanan reached out to put a hand on his chest and push him back.

"Lay still. You might feel a little better laying flat like this, but you need to let us help you." Kanan looked up at Zeb "Grab the first aid kit? There's bandages in there, and I'm not sure which crate has what."

"Right, anything else?" Zeb stepped around them easily to get out the kit.

"There's a blanket behind one of the seats, we need to keep him warm." Kanan spared a moment to be thankful he'd stocked the Phantom with a spare blanket after Ezra's brush with the giant fyrnock, then he was kneeling so he could get both Ezra's legs up into his lap, cleaning off the wet blood around the scratches so he could see them clearly and then pressing clean gauze to them, holding pressure on them as best he could.

"Got it." Zeb unfolded the blanket, shaking it out and crouching so he could start tucking it around Ezra.

"You want to fly, or want to take my spot here?" Kanan wasn't sure if the pressure had stopped the bleeding, but he didn't want to risk removing the gauze and breaking a forming scab.

"I can fly us, nothing fancy, eh? Just meeting back up with the Ghost."

"That's it exactly, and hurry." Kanan kept his grip firm, hoping that whatever was wrong they'd be able to fix it on the Ghost.

* * *

Zeb radioed ahead and explained things as best he could, for which Kanan was grateful. He wasn't sure how to describe that as best they could tell Ezra had nearly bled out from a few scrapes that normally wouldn't have warranted a second look.

It took both of them to get Ezra out and to Zeb's room after docking with the Ghost, and Kanan was grateful that Hera already had everything ready and waiting for them. There was an open medkit, blankets, and anything that looked like it would be useful for treating injuries and preventing shock.

Ezra stayed quiet, at least until Zeb started to strip him down.

"Hey! You're just messing with my legs, not the rest of me. And it's cold." Ezra tried to cling weakly to his vest.

"You really want to lay around in wet bloody clothes? And we've got a pile of blankets right here." Zeb kept tugging until Ezra gave up and let him get the vest off, and then the jumpsuit. Kanan helped ease the pants legs down over the bandages while Hera tucked the blankets around Ezra and then moved down beside Kanan.

"There are plants on the planet that produce a natural anticoagulant. That's one of the reasons there's a large medical supply factory there, refined it's one of the best drugs available to break up blood clots. Accidental exposure can be dangerous though, causing uncontrolled bleeding." Hera spoke quietly while she removed a bottle from the med kit.

"And you think that's what's causing this?" Kanan waited until she was ready before reluctantly removing the makeshift bandages. There wasn't as much blood on them as he feared there would be, the pressure had helped, but there was also no sign that the scratches has started to scab on his own. With the pressure off he could see the slow welling of red again.

Hera worked quickly, swabbing each scratch with a generous amount of liquid from the med kit. "At this point it's our best guess, and I'm hoping it's the right one. If we can get the bleeding stopped he should be fine. If it's some other toxin then we don't know what's going to happen."

Kanan held his breath watching the scratches. It was hard to tell with the extra liquid on, but after a tense minute he started to relax. There wasn't any fresh blood, and what had leaked out looked to finally be starting to scab.

Hera let out a relieved sigh and reached to start carefully cleaning the mess on Ezra's legs without disturbing the scratches.

"I can get that." Kanan reached for the damp cloth, until Hera stopped him with a frown.

"You can get yourself cleaned up first." Hera arched an eyebrow.

Kanan glanced down, then swallowed back a sound of dismay. He hadn't noticed with everything going on, but in carrying Ezra he'd managed to get dark stains on his shirt and gloves. He brushed at one of them automatically, as if that would remove the blood and dirt from the fabric.

"Good idea. Ezra?" Kanan moved around to where he could see his padawan's face.

"Hmm?" Ezra cracked an eye. He'd been quiet while they worked, though Zeb had still stayed to make sure he didn't struggle or try to get up.

"Did you hear any of that?" Kanan asked.

"I'm fine. Going to be fine, you're gross. Go shower." Ezra didn't quite focus on him, but he did manage a small smile.

"You're outvoted, I agree with both of them. We've got things under control here." Zeb said, waving a hand to the door.

"Alright, I'm going" Kanan headed out, not exactly eager to have his padawan's blood on him any longer than he had to.

* * *

Kanan didn't take too long to clean up and change clothing, which ended up being a good thing when he stepped out and Hera was waiting for him.

"Looks like we spoke too soon before. We could use your help with Ezra." Hera spoke, her expression a mix of amusement and exasperation.

"What is it now?" Kanan glanced down the hall towards the other door, fairly certain it couldn't be anything too life threatening or Hera wouldn't be nearly so calm.

"He's refusing to drink the rehydrating solution. He says it's expensive and tastes terrible." Hera crossed her arms.

"Well… he's not wrong. I'll see what I can do." Kanan offered.

"I'm hoping he'll listen to you. I know being uncooperative is one of the symptoms of blood loss, but if he keeps being stubborn someone's going to lose their temper." Hera frowned.

"Is that why you stepped out to get me?" Kanan smiled, not giving her time to answer before he ducked back into the room.

Ezra looked fairly unchanged from how he'd left him, which wasn't unexpected. Still, he'd halfway hoped that there would be some noticeable improvement. Zeb and Sabine were both crowded around the bunk with the bottle of rehydrating solution.

"I say one of us just holds him down and the other pours it down his throat." Zeb cracked his knuckles threateningly.

"He sounds pretty serious, you should listen to him." Sabine added.

"You're trying to help me, not drown me. And if you cause me to start bleeding again you know Hera will have your hide for a rug." Ezra said, scrunching down some.

"He's got you there." Kanan interrupted "Why don't you two step out for a bit? I can handle this."

They both got up, Zeb giving Kanan a light pat on the shoulder. "Good luck, you're going to need it."

"Thanks." Kanan moved to take the seat by Ezra, picking up the bottle to study it. "So why are you refusing to drink this anyway? As much blood as you lost you have to be thirsty."

"I already told them, it tastes terrible. Just get me water or something." Ezra glared. Some of the threatening impact was lost by the fact it still didn't look like he could focus his eyes for long, much less hold his head up on his own for any length of time.

"You told them that, I want the truth. Spill it." Kanan spoke more quietly.

"That is the truth." Ezra faltered some, looking away.

"I've seen you eat stuff you hated before, you're not going to let something like that get to you so easily. So what is it?" Kanan crossed his arms.

"It's… it does taste terrible, and most of the time I can ignore it, but Kanan, I'm thirsty but I feel like I'm going to be sick. If I try to drink something like that… I really don't want to throw up like this." Ezra looked pleading.

"I'll see if I can find something that will settle your stomach first then. But you still need to drink something." Kanan reached to gently ruffle his hair, standing up and heading to the door.

He peered out, not surprised to see Sabine was lurking nearby, probably on guard in case everyone else was needed.

"Sabine, need you to get something for me. In the galley there should still be some of those drinks we picked up on our last supply run. The sweet fizzy ones. And a couple of the salt tablets." Kanan could go get them himself, but if he didn't have to run all over the ship he preferred to stay close to where Ezra was to keep an eye on him.

"Salt tablets? Oh, you're going to try making a drink that tastes better." Sabine grinned, starting towards the galley.

"That's the plan." Kanan hoped it would work and he wouldn't just be ruining the drinks. He unwrapped the salt tablet, breaking it in half and crumbling it and dropping it into the drink, swirling it to try and dissolve it. Thankfully it was designed to be mixed in with something else and dissolved easily, even in the cold drink, with only a minimum of fizzing. He added the other half to the second drink, carrying them both into the bedroom.

"Here, try this." Kanan sat down beside Ezra, reaching to help prop him up partway. "Just small sips at first, see if the carbonation helps."

"Alright." Ezra looked like he wanted to find a good reason to refuse, but instead took a small sip.

"That's it." Kanan kept holding the drink bottle where Ezra could reach it. He could be patient like this, and he couldn't get too irritated with Ezra. It wasn't like he was much better of a patient when he was ill or injured. The last time he'd come down with some strain of flu he'd tried to just hole up in his room and wait to get better. After about three days of that Zeb decided enough was enough, had convinced Chopper to override his lock, and hauled him out. He'd entirely ignored his protests, shoved him into the shower, and then threatened to sit on him until he ate something and took some medicine. At the time Kanan had been all ready to vote to toss the Lasat out onto the next inhabited or at least inhabitable planet, but eventually he could look back and grudgingly admit it had been for the best.

Ezra still required a slightly lighter touch, it was hard to tell when he was refusing to do something just to see if he could, or if there was a reason behind it that needed to be ferreted out. Forcing him to drink something only to have it come back up because he was too stubborn to admit he was nauseated from the blood loss was just one example of how just ordering him around could backfire. Kanan wondered sometimes if he'd been half the frustration to his own teachers.

"How are you feeling now?" Kanan watched Ezra's face. Ezra had managed about half the bottle one slow sip at a time, but now he'd paused with a thoughtful look on his face that worried Kanan.

"I think…" Ezra paused, and then burped, only bringing his hand up at the last moment to try and cover it. "Nevermind, better. I'm feeling a lot better."

Kanan smiled at that "Good. I'm still going to sit with you until you drink both of these."

Ezra let his hand flop back down onto the mattress. "Then what?"

"Then food if you're up for it, or you can rest." Kanan held the drink back up to his lips. "But this first. And since you're feeling better you don't have to go as slow."

Ezra didn't argue, draining the second half of the bottle much faster, though he made a face at the end. "It tastes kind of weird. The other bottles of it were better. Are you sure it's still good?"

"I'm sure." Kanan hesitated, then figured it was better to be honest "I added some salt. There's some of the medkit that we've never used for helping with dehydration, I hoped it wouldn't taste as bad as the rehydrating solution."

"Oh. Alright. Adding salt to it still tastes kind of weird, but it's not terrible." Ezra reached shakily for the second bottle, and Kanan let him take it. He just kept an eye on it in case Ezra lost his grip.

"After these two you can drink whatever you want if you're thirsty." Kanan reassured him. He waited until Ezra was done with the second to help lower him back to laying flat on the bed. "Anything else you want right now?"

"Maybe another blanket? I mean, just if we have a spare one." Ezra closed his eyes once he was back laying flat, but he looked a little better. Maybe not a huge change, but he just looked tired instead of half dead.

"I think I can manage to find a spare blanket." Kanan stood, he could get the blanket and let the others know that he'd gotten Ezra to drink and he should be more cooperative now

It had been a closer call than he'd liked, and certainly not what he'd expected at the start of the mission, but the worst was over. Zeb would keep an eye on Ezra overnight, and he could finally go get some rest.

* * *

Ezra dozed once it finally felt like he was warming up. It wasn't really deep sleep, but he drifted between being aware and not. He woke a little more fully at the squeak of the bunk ladder, blinking up at the bottom of the top bunk.

"Zeb?" Ezra asked, then felt a little foolish. Who else would it be?

"Yeah, you're going to owe me one, kid. I hate the top bunk." Zeb's voice came from above as he settled heavily, making the bunk creak. Ezra hoped the securing pins were fully in place.

"I thought we were eternally even?" Ezra managed to come up with after several long moments. Not his fastest comeback, but he could probably be forgiven for being a little off his game. "Besides, I'd rather have the top bunk, I just wasn't given much choice.

"Yeah, well, that just applies to saving your life, not to making these kinds of sacrifices." Zeb chuckled. "And you're too much work to haul up to the top bunk, you'll just have to deal with it."

"Uh huh. You can't just make the rules up as you go, you know." Ezra protested.

"It still counts, ask anyone. But later, for now get back to sleep." Zeb grumbled, then softened his tone. "Sooner you rest the sooner you can get back up on your feet. Which reminds me, you need anything tonight, just wake me up."

"That sounds like a good way to get punched." Ezra smiled slightly, closing his eyes.

"I mean it. Don't know how much you remember, but you're under strict orders not to do anything that might start you bleeding again until Hera's sure the poison's out of your system. No getting up, no going to the 'fresher on your own, and no chores at least." Zeb said firmly.

"Great. Sounds fun." Ezra rolled his eyes behind closed lids.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, day or two they'll be back to having you scrub scorch marks off the Phantom and whatever else they think of for you to do." Zeb was starting to sound sleepy, it had been a long night for all of them.

"You're just full of hopeful news." Ezra relaxed, ready to go back to dozing. There wasn't a reply, just the soft snoring Zeb always swore he never did. They'd finished the mission, the medical supplies would be delivered, and everything had worked out. Mostly. And that was good enough. Ezra had known, even when barely able to think, that Kanan and the rest would make sure everything worked out and that he'd be ok. It had been a very long time since Ezra had anyone he could consider friends, and never friends like these. It was something that would always be worth protecting.


End file.
